Family and relationship
Many of these stories feature themes of family and relationship, against which the horror of the Haunted Tales can be seen with more contrast. The family life that shapes stories like "Poor Bibi," and the story "The Premonition," offer depictions of families as communities. The only characters who exist in total isolation in the collection are the dangerous people whose lack of community has left them volatile and darkened by fate.
Animals and life
These stories often include depictions of human attachment to pets and animals. Miranda adores her cat in an obsessive way, getting closer to the cat that Julius bought her than she is to Julius himself. "Poor Bibi" is a dog whose animal nature is withheld from the reader through dramatic irony—the reader thinks that the family is asking a doctor to put down a human being. That story ends with the family attacking the dog to kill it. In these stories, animals are not the agents of horror; the humans are. The animals are passive agents. Instead of Cujo, where a dog is horrifying, these stories show that humans are quite dark and scary.
Horror and the unknown
As the title of the collection implies, these stories offer horrifying tales of the unknown. What makes this use of horror unique compared to others in the genre is that instead of offering stories where the horror of the outside world is the primary threat, these stories feature aspects of the characters that seem Haunted by something. This book shows that there is enough horror to go around in just a regular old human being. This is especially true of characters who have secrets or who refuse to be in community with others.
